Wednesday, June 18, 2008

On a recent Monday, I got an urgent email stating that a rush piece of work "absolutely had to be completed by Tursday!"

My first assumption was that "Tursday" was "Thursday" mistyped. But then I realized that the "r" is right next the the "e" on a keyboard. "Tursday" might actually be "Tuesday" mistyped! I almost didn't check with the sender, feeling pretty confident that Thursday was the only reasonable deadline. (I also didn't want to look a like a petty jerk by pointing out spelling errors.) I did check however. It was due Tuesday!

I made the deadline. Just wanted to present this as a cautionary tale if anyone's ever in a similar boat...

Btw, I'm away from home (and my computer) most of this week, or else I'd have made some kind of pretty picture to go with this post...

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Yes, the punchline to this may be obvious, but for some reason , it cracks me up. I hate cliches and do my upmost to avoid them, but I couldn't stop myself in this instance. A few years ago I took a rough from my sketchbook and created this one page strip for the Comiculture Anthology. Comiculture was a great magazine idea that never quite got off the ground. It was started by Steve Buccellato. (Steve, if you happen to read this... How you doing, Buddy?)

I did the strip in color, but unfortunately the finished product ended up in black and white. I've always liked it in color so I'm presenting it here.

(On a side note, Steve did a nice Halo and Sprocket pin-up for me years ago. I received it just as I was putting H&S on hiatus for a while, so I didn't use it in a printed book. I always felt bad about that. It was a nice piece. You can take a look at it here.)

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Whenever I draw a pinup for someone, I always feel compelled to incorporate a tiny bit of storytelling into it. As a kid, I starting drawing only because it's a great way to share ideas.

This art was a pinup for Season of the Witch, an Image mini-series created/written by my friend Jai Nitz. (Sorry, I don't remember who drew it. This was published a couple of years ago and I've moved since then. My comics are very disorganized.) The story in his book was that of a teenage girl who was thrown into a fantasy world and had to deal with the consequences.

The story in my art is supposed to be one of a teenage girl who is mercilessly and brutally hacking a creature to death when suddenly... "Oooo something pretty..!"

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I'm a big Hellboy fan. I have very little patience for "decompressed" storytelling and have stopped reading many comics because of it. One of the great things about Hellboy is that Mike Mignola gives us his cool ideas quickly and then gets out of the story. (It's one of the things that inspired me to do Halo and Sprocket stories.) Combine that with his wonderfully stylized art, and you've got a true winner.

I've often wondered if anyone else has ever noticed a similarity between Hellboy and the early Doom Patrol's Robotman. Flip their eye and head colors, keep the protruding jaw and head thingies, and there are similarities. Hmmm, there are some similar never-back-down personality traits too. Mignola is the age that he might have read some old Doom Patrols as a kid. Maybe they left an (subconscious) impression on him?